Wrapping with Fabric: A Guide to Furoshiki The Japanese Art of Wrapping
Etsuko Yamada, Kanji Okamoto
Tuttle Press
What is Furoshiki? Madly, this is no new textile fabric fashion, this is a key part of Japanese history which has spun the years, whilst coming into fruition in a variety of years depending on the time period. In its beginning, it was customary to only use these wrapping techniques for temple objects - precious. As we have moved into a throw away society, it now holds a new import - saving the planet through the ability to use cloth to wrap objects rather than paper which would be thrown away. It has always been a method of caring, of transporting, of need and dual decoration - what can it build though in our own lives? Care to find out?
From personal stories about Furoshiki, to enough visual fuel to make you go up and dig into your own stash, this book has it all. I loved the contents list, or rather not in text but rather imges of the wrapping styles you will find in this title - it suits the book’s style. Yes we could look at this ability in a cold manner, a eco-friendly, money saving method for all of us misers. In opposition to this view, I see this as an act of love. No, not just to the planet, by its action us - becoming - the do-gooder, the ‘saver’. No. This is about time and consideration.
Instead of hoping out to get wrapping paper for all those landmark occasions we must mark, we turn inwards, what beautiful piece of cloth do I already have that I would be willing to part with to surprise that dear friend? Suddenly that gift becomes dually golden. I have had personal experience of receiving one of these gifts. Like a child with a cardboard box when the expensive playhouse which it once housed is long forgotten - I wear the fabric which wrapped my gift as a scarf, it now has a place in my scarf drawer. But admittedly I don’t remember what was nurtured inside. I am not unthankful, I simply valued both objects, but somehow the outer held a strain of more love - this person had given thought, time, care to choose this tactile piece; it was a colour and pattern she knew me well enough to know would suit me.
I am digressing here, but it is of more import to discuss the value of this technique than in fact the books actual layout.
With ideas aplenty, your hands will be folding and preening for many occasions ahead.